About the West

How Do You Define the West?

The Western United States has, for decades, been one of the fastest growing areas of the country – but how do you define the West?

Generally, the Western United States is considered to be any state that includes, or is West of the Rocky Mountains. That definition includes the states of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington. Some even go further in differentiating the Inter-Mountain West, the area of the country between the Rocky, Sierra Nevada, and Cascade Mountain Ranges, from the West Coast, including the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.

While there are an infinite number of ways to “slice” the West from a human and geographic perspective, a few characteristics define the Western United States.

Western states are very large, with unique geographic characteristics that are not found in the rest of the country.

Urban areas in the West are more densely populated than much of the rest of the country, and rural areas are, generally, less densely populated than many other areas of the country.

Western population centers have grown and developed as a result of migration throughout the latter half of the 20th century, less so as a result of economic growth spurring out of the Industrial Revolution.

The Western United States’ core characteristics often require different and unique approaches to public policy, ones that take the unique physical and social geography of place into account.

Population Density in Urban Areas

The western United States, particularly the Inter-Mountain West is surprisingly urbanized. The urban cores of Denver and Salt Lake are achieving densities as high as urban Chicago and higher than urban Boston. 88% of the nation’s population growth over the next few decades will be concentrated in urban centers in the South and Western States. This drastic expansion will bring with it many economic opportunities, as well as environmental and transportation related challenges.

Western metros are preparing for population density by investing heavily in their own transportation and transit systems, attracting new service-oriented economic development, and making their cities more sustainable.

Preparing for Projected Growth

The Western United States faces record urbanization, population growth and economic expansion.

As the United States grows to 400 million residents by 2051 (according to the US Census Bureau), the West will gain a disproportionate share of the coming growth. According to a 2015 study by the Western Regional Alliance, the largest Western Metros in the Inter-Mountain West are together projected to add nearly 12.7 million residents and more than 8 million jobs by 2040, and Metros along the Pacific Coast will add even more. This means the Mountain megas’ population and job bases could each roughly double by 2040 from 2005 levels.

According to the Gallis study, such projected expansion will also have tremendous implications for the built environment and regional construction activity. Such growth, for example, would require the megapolitan West to nearly double the number of housing units that were on the ground in 2005 (5.6 million units) while replacing or upgrading another two million. Equally staggering, a total of 9.4 billion square feet of new or replacement non-residential space may need to be built to accommodate the coming new jobs. The estimated construction cost attached to this massive growth and replacement of structures in the megapolitan West could approach $2.25 trillion for housing and $916 billion for non-residential space. Read more by following this link to the Maricopa Association of Governments webpage.